New at QL: De Wittenburg Castle

Kasteel De Wittenburg (Wassenaar, the Netherlands) was built in 1899 by the aristocrat Helenus Marinus Speelman, a descendent of Cornelis Speelman, a 17th-century governor of the Dutch East Indies – modern-day Indonesia. Designed as a country retreat, this stately home has been run since the 1960s by the De Wittenburg Society as an international meeting centre, and has welcomed countless captains of industry, ministers, and foreign dignitaries. Each of the ten stylish guestrooms has an atmosphere of its own, an excellent bathroom and a view of the surrounding estate. The basement houses the contemporary French and Asian restaurant Sophie, named after Speelman’s wife, Sophie Adriënne baroness Sloet van Oldruitenborgh. The couple travelled widely and they liked to show it, as you can still see from the exquisite Chinese vases they brought home as souvenirs. The celebrated Museum Voorlinden is a stone’s throw away, as is the beach, and it’s only a 15-minute drive to the centre of The Hague.